Summary: Seeking a New York-licensed commercial litigation attorney to represent a business in a disputed breach-of-contract and debt collection matter. Highlights: 1. Opportunity to handle complex commercial contract litigation. 2. Engage as outside counsel with fixed-fee phases. 3. Evaluate diverse legal issues including fraud and misrepresentation. New York Commercial Litigation Attorney Needed for Contract and Debt Collection Dispute We are seeking a New York-licensed commercial litigation attorney to represent a business in a disputed breach-of-contract and debt collection matter. This would be an outside-counsel engagement, preferably handled through defined fixed-fee phases rather than open-ended hourly billing. Matter Summary From approximately 2018 through 2022, our company engaged an international technology vendor to coordinate large volumes of small online data-gathering tasks performed by independent contractors. During the four-year relationship, we paid the vendor approximately $40,000 in total. Throughout the engagement, we experienced recurring problems involving erroneous billing, unreliable task reporting, contractor misconduct, and inconsistencies in the vendor’s records. Some billing errors were acknowledged by the vendor in writing. As we began winding down the relationship in late 2022, the vendor unexpectedly asserted that almost $40,000 in additional invoices had gone unbilled during the preceding 10 to 11 months. These invoices effectively doubled the amount billed over the entire four-year relationship. We disputed the invoices. The vendor supplied a spreadsheet containing tens of thousands of data rows, but we contend that the export was unreliable and continued to reflect systemic reporting and contractor-performance problems. Communications then ceased for approximately two years. The vendor later retained a New York debt collection attorney. We were not aware of meaningful service efforts and first learned of the proceeding through an unrelated attorney who apparently monitors debt collection filings. The matter later resurfaced in another state, where new filings were made and service was eventually accepted through counsel. We obtained dismissal of that proceeding because the parties’ written agreement expressly requires disputes to be brought under New York law and in New York courts. We anticipate that the vendor or its collection counsel may now recommence the matter in New York. Potential Defenses and Counterclaims The issues we would like counsel to evaluate include: 1. The agreement contains an express New York jurisdiction and governing-law provision, yet collection proceedings were initiated in other jurisdictions. 2. The contract required invoicing and payment within a short, defined billing cycle. The disputed invoices were submitted many months after the alleged work, making contemporaneous verification effectively impossible. 3. The vendor’s historical billing errors, contractor misconduct, reporting deficiencies, and unreliable data may undermine the validity and accuracy of the claimed debt. 4. The contract does not appear to authorize recovery of the vendor’s attorney fees, although legal fees have reportedly been added to the demand. 5. The agreement contains potentially conflicting limitations-of-liability and damages provisions, including a cap tied to the prior 12 months of billing. 6. Our company invested substantial internal development resources in an API integration that relied on the vendor’s systems, reporting, and representations. 7. The vendor required a prepaid account from which completed work was to be deducted. At the time the disputed invoices were announced, our records reportedly continued to show a positive prepaid balance. 8. We have incurred more than $10,000 in legal expenses responding to collection proceedings that we contend were based on untimely, inaccurate, and contractually improper invoices. We would like counsel to evaluate all viable defenses, affirmative claims, and counterclaims, including breach of contract, fraud or fraudulent inducement, negligent misrepresentation, declaratory relief, abuse of process, recovery or offset of damages, and any claims arising from improper filings or service representations. We understand that the viability of each claim must be determined after counsel reviews the documents and applicable law. Preferred Fee Structure We are seeking a clearly defined fixed-fee proposal organized by litigation phase. A possible structure could include: Phase 1: Initial Evaluation and Strategy Review the contract, billing history, correspondence, data exports, prior court filings, dismissal order, service records, and supporting documentation. Provide an assessment of likely defenses, counterclaims, venue, limitations issues, damages, and recommended strategy. Phase 2: Initial Representation and Demand Prepare a formal demand, response, settlement communication, declaratory-action strategy, or draft counterclaim intended to stop further collection activity and resolve the dispute before additional litigation. We would be open to a separate fixed amount or success component if the matter is permanently resolved at this stage without further legal proceedings. Phase 3: Litigation Through Final Judgment Represent the company if the vendor or its collection attorney commences or continues an action in New York. This phase would include pleadings, motions, discovery, settlement efforts, and representation through dismissal, settlement, or final judgment. Phase 4: Successful Defense or Counterclaim We are open to discussing additional milestone or success-based compensation if counsel obtains a dismissal or defense judgment, as well as a separate component if the company prevails on an affirmative counterclaim or obtains a monetary recovery. Any arrangement would need to comply with applicable New York professional-responsibility requirements. Please propose the fee you would charge for each phase rather than submitting a general hourly-rate proposal. Limited hourly billing for extraordinary or unforeseeable work may be considered if clearly defined in advance. Applicants should: • Be currently licensed and in good standing in New York • Have substantial commercial contract litigation experience • Have experience defending business debt collection claims • Be comfortable evaluating fraud, misrepresentation, billing, jurisdiction, service, and damages issues • Have experience with complex electronic records, spreadsheets, APIs, or technology-service disputes • Be willing to provide a practical assessment of both strong and weak aspects of the case • Be able to identify potential conflicts before receiving confidential party information Please provide: • Your name, firm, and New York bar information • A summary of relevant commercial litigation experience • Examples of similar contract or debt collection disputes you have handled • Your proposed fixed fee for each phase • Any proposed milestone or success-based structure • Your anticipated availability • Confirmation that you can conduct an initial conflict check before the parties are identified Supporting documents can be provided after an initial conversation and completion of a conflict check. This posting summarizes disputed allegations and potential legal theories only. It is not intended to state that any claim has been proven or that any court has made findings concerning the underlying billing dispute.
Craigslist · HR
Craigslist · HR
